CHAPTER II - CHAPTER II THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND...

CHAPTER II THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND Statement of the Problem On both sides of the spectrum, many are confused with Cardoso’s stand as a social democratic free-market reformer and are troubled by his refusal to apologize for either his past or his present. Critics argue that President Cardoso offers a conception of economic and political development that is inconsistent with that which was set forth by Professor Cardoso earlier in his career: the developmental path Cardoso has put Brazil on as President is the very path Cardoso warned against as a professor. While Cardoso’s academic writings were filled with discussions of capitalism, class exploitation and a commitment to socialism, by contrast Cardoso’s presidential policies reflect a commitment to the expansion of entrepreneurship, free enterprise and integration of Brazil into the framework of global capitalism. Any discontinuities to be found in terms of these commitments have thus been perceived as either a betrayal of Cardoso’s academic position or his political stance. To Cardoso’s credit, supporters argue that he is the first professional sociologist to become Head-of-State, and is the most distinguished Marxist scholar to lead a nation since the death of V.I.Lenin (Goertzel 1997). As a sociologist, they argue, Cardoso has shown a profound understanding of both history and class struggle, and has demonstrated this understanding as a respected statesman through administration policy geared toward development within the framework of globalization and reformist capitalism. Research Question and Hypothesis

This
preview
has intentionally blurred sections.
Sign up to view the full version.

The research question is whether and to what extent continuity exists between what Fernando Henrique Cardoso published as a sociologist and what he accomplished as a senator and President of Brazil. My hypothesis is that the demands of politics in a postmodern world have forced Cardoso to give way to political expediency in betrayal of his Marxist sociological orientation. Literature Review on Cardoso and Dependency Theory Fernando Henrique Cardoso and dependency theory go hand-in-hand. Dependency, however, is a nebulous concept that has been used to lump many perspectives and writers together, even though their conceptions differ. The Dependency Movement: Scholarship and Politics in Development Studies by Robert Packenham (1992) summarizes the dependency perspective, particularly its origins, themes and variations. Packenham illustrates that the Marxist roots of dependency theory as a perspective were derived as a reaction against modernization theory. Packenham illustrates how the perspective evolved into its holistic and unorthodox forms. Both holistic and unorthodox dependency are Marxist approaches concerned with the forces and relations of production applied to the development of the periphery. The unorthodox approach, however, stresses that dependency is mostly a sociopolitical phenomenon insofar as economic development will take different directions depending on the particular socio-historical

This is the end of the preview.
Sign up
to
access the rest of the document.